Beyond Uncertainty

Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and The Bomb

A physicist and a historian, Cassidy writes about science and political history with equal authority. Since the publication of David Cassidy's definitive biography of Werner Heisenberg, "Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg" in 1992, new information has emerged on this controversial physicist's role in Nazi Germany. Two subsequent biographies have appeared, both of them arguing different positions on whether or not Heisenberg was a collaborator in the Third Reich's project to build an atomic bomb. While Cassidy does not silence those who seek to exculpate Heisenberg, his new work will go a long way toward setting the historical record straight. In 2000 Michael Frayn's Broadway drama "Copenhagen," about a fateful encounter between Heisenberg and Niels Bohr in 1941, played to sold-out audiences. Frayn refers to "Uncertainty" in "Copenhagen's" playbill as one of his main sources and "the standard work in English." All significant takes on the life of Heisenberg have relied heavily on Cassidy's original groundbreaking biography ("Uncertainty"), which is now out of print. Rather than merely reprint the highly technical 650 page tome the author has decided to recast it as a more accessible updated work. Cassidy examines not only the case of Heisenberg but as an expert on Oppenheimer and Einstein he is able to assess the larger issue of the culpability of scientists in their relationship to political and military power.